April 14, 2012

After several months of painstaking work by several individuals who I will shortly name, my new virtual homestead is up at www.whitneyjohnson.com and is where the dare to dream blog will now be housed.

Come visit!

P.S. For those of you that are currently subscribed through Feedblitz, I don't actually know who you are, a lapse that occurred when I moved to Feedburner, so this is either your chance to gracefully opt out, or you'll want to opt back in.

April 10, 2012

A passionate believer in the rights of women (especially mothers), Kaylie Astin is the founder of www.familyfriendlywork.org, where she blogs and raises awareness of work and family issues. She is also an aspiring novelist and freelance writer whose work has appeared in publications such as Boys’ Life and Children’s Writer. Kaylie received a bachelor's degree in music and resides in Utah with her husband and three children.

I have always believed that the work of mothers matters.

That’s why I assumed, growing up, that staying home to take care of my family was the only way to go, especially when I heard leaders within my faith talk about the value of mothers staying home. When I became a mother myself, I quit everything, because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do. I couldn’t imagine going to the grocery store, let alone going to work, while someone else watched my baby.

But it didn’t take long for me to realize that though I’d always dreamed of raising a family, something was missing. I had other dreams and interests, and these dreams hadn’t died when I became a mother. At first, when I compared myself to other Mormon women who loved staying home, these dreams made me feel guilty because in my mind, family was supposed to be all I wanted.

I tried to fill the void in my life. I scrapbooked, planned a music advertising business, got sucked into multi-level marketing, invested in real estate, wrote novels, blogged, opened an Etsy store, and wrote for magazines (not all at the same time). I needed something, I knew, but nothing felt right, and I became increasingly desperate. The ambitions I’d been squelching were stubborn. They wouldn’t go away. I considered going back to work, but couldn’t find a part-time job that paid more than minimum wage.

Wasn’t there a way for women like me to combine ambition with family instead of choosing one or the other?One day, I heard Quentin L. Cook, the former vice chairman of Sutter Health System, a leader within my faith, say the following, “I would hope that [Mormons] would be at the forefront in creating an environment in the workplace that is more receptive and accommodating to both women and men in their responsibilities as parents.”

This single sentence was like manna from heaven, balm to soothe my troubled soul. I wanted to do some type of work. Until this moment I believed I would have to choose family or career. For me, Quentin Cook's speech was more than an acknowledgment that Mormon women worked. In that moment, I felt I had been given providential permission to work. Moreover, this sermon was an invitiation for me to fight for families in the workplace.

And suddenly, I knew I had to do just that.

I began by researching, and what I found ignited my passion to make a difference even more. If mothering was so important, and so many mothers worked, why hadn’t workplaces recognized this? Why, for so many women, was it a choice between feeding their children and raising them?I considered many ways of putting myself “at the forefront”, knowing I wanted to reach as many women as possible. I wanted to help women learn about different kinds of work arrangements and figure out how to negotiate them. I hoped women would talk to each other about guilt and child care. I wanted young women to understand the importance of education.

I also noticed there weren’t many resources for Mormon women, in particular, to learn and talk about work and family issues. With family being so important to our faith, how could we help workplaces accommodate our priorities?

So I decided to put together a website.

It sounds easy, but it wasn't. First there was the minor issue of not knowing how to build a site. Then there were snags like technical difficulties, domain name changes, re-designs, and re-writes. But finally, in February 2012, I launched my site, www.familyfriendlywork.org. But the dream doesn't stop there. Now I'm working to get as many people involved as possible. I plan to add more information to the site and form partnerships with like-minded organizations also agitating for change.

The more I learn, the more I appreciate the silver lining in my struggles. The lack of an outlet for my ambition has created its own kind of ambition -- to share what I've learned through an often frustrating process with women in search of work-life fit answers.

I still believe that mothers matter, but not every mother wants to or can stay home. Most workplaces operate on a model that allows parents little time with their children. If workplaces accommodated the needs of families, they, their employees, and all of society would benefit. Here's hoping my site makes a difference.

Have you found yourself grappling with how to attend to others' dreams as well as your own?

Do you remember a time when a single sentence or phrase from someone you revered triggered a paradigm shift?

April 08, 2012

With the launch of Dare, Dream, Do just 30 days away, I am grateful for media opportunities. Cave Henricks and Shelton Interactive, both affiliated with my publisher Bibliomotion, have been tremendously helpful in this regard, as has Weaving Influence, who kindly introduced me to Lolly Daskal who has nearly 300,000 Twitter followers -- no that is NOT a typo. Each Tuesday (8-9pm ET) Lolly hosts the Lead From Within (#leadfromwithin) tweetchat, drawing thousands of people to tweet.

Because I'm a bit of a newbie, and perhaps you are too, here's how a tweetchat works.

At the appointed hour (Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 8 pm ET) visit tweetchat.com. After you sign in with Twitter, you can enter the hashtag for the chat (#leadfromwithin.) When you use tweetchat.com, you will be able to easily scan the fast stream of tweets during the hour.

Get ready for questions and answers. Lolly will post ten questions during the hour, designated by Q1, Q2, etc. The questions for my chat with Lolly will center on daring, dreaming, and doing. For example, Q1 is Why is it important to dream? If you want to answer a question, begin your tweet with A1, A2, etc. The tweetchat application will automatically add the hashtag #leadfromwithin to your tweets, enabling the other participants to find and read your tweets easily.

You might feel overwhelmed. Feel free to observe. The pace of the chat is fast. If you’re new to Twitter, especially, you might feel dazed by the bombardment of interaction and information. Read what you can and join in if you are comfortable.

Share and encourage others. One thing I love about Lolly’s tweetchat is the way that participants affirm others’ insights and ideas. People regularly retweet one another, adding encouraging words like “+1” or “Yes!” Many ideas are repeated multiple times. Join the fun and retweet others; you can also retweet questions, to make sure people see them and you can retweet answers.

If you’re a power tweeter, ration your tweets. A friend of mine discovered that there is a limit to how many tweets you can send each day when she sent 112 tweets in an hour and got locked out of her account 45 minutes into the chat. If you think you may do this, slow down. You want to reserve some tweets so you can continue the conversation during the after-hour.

Stick around. The minutes after the tweetchat, the after-hour, are a great time to socialize, make connections, and continue the conversation. Don’t rush away at 9 o’clock; stay around if you can and enjoy the magic and serendipity of meeting like-minded people.

If last week was any indication, Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 8 pm ET will be fun.

I'd love to have you join us.

***

Have you ever participated in a tweetchat?

With the advent of Twitter and Facebook, have you noticed that you think more in sound bites than you used to?

If you were to promote a book, what would be your favorite medium?

***

P.S. Lolly generously wrote a blurb for the book.

“Whitney Johnson maps out a masterpiece for women that is filled with wisdom, strategies, fascinating stories, and all that matters most in life. She takes us on a journey as we learn to express our dreams, embrace our powers, and expand our hearts. Dare, Dream, Do is an incredible book. I want to give this book to every woman I know.”

April 07, 2012

Alice Baumgartner is one of the founders of the FACE IT Campaign. After graduating from Yale in 2010, she worked for a year at a medical clinic in rural Bolivia—an experience which made her an avid proponent of disruptive innovation. She is now studying Latin American history at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship.

One afternoon, at the end of my first semester at college, a group of men from my philosophy class were studying for our exam in the dining hall. Since I had questions about Kant’s Metaphysics—actually, about most of the readings—I decided to ask if I could join them. But, as I approached the table, the men grew silent. I asked if I could sit down, and then waited uncomfortably for a response. They said nothing, and after a few minutes, I walked away, confused and most of all, embarrassed.

The next day, I ran into a friend, who had been at the table. He immediately apologized for what had happened. It had nothing to do with me. It was just that the men in the group had decided that they did not want to study with women.

I was taken aback. I’d always been told I could do anything, so long as I worked hard enough. This, I thought, was no different. I just needed to work harder. I needed to show them I was good enough—no matter my gender.

Then it hit me: I would never be invited to join that study group. It did not matter how hard I worked because the decision of who to include was never based on merit. Instead it was made according to who these men were friends with, and whom they felt comfortable around. It was a question of networks—not abilities.

It would be easy to chalk it all up to schoolboy capers, of no concern outside of the dining hall, except that these principles seem to operate elsewhere, especially in corporate America. The most recent example is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose company filed in February for the largest IPO ever in tech—$5 billion—without a single woman on its board.

They are overlooking—as I had once overlooked—the process by which these groups are selected. When it comes to boards, that old adage applies: It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. You might be at the top of your graduating class. (After all, seventy percent of college valedictorians are female.) You might run your own company. (According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women now hold 51.4 percent of managerial and professional jobs—up from 26.1 percent in 1980.)

But unless there’s a Larry Summers to your Sheryl Sandberg, it won’t really matter. Only twenty-four women were added to Fortune 500 boards in 2011. At this sluggish rate, it will take 40 years for women to occupy just 30% of Fortune 500 board seats. That means that when my friends and I are in our sixties, ready and qualified to serve on a corporate board, our male peers will still stand a better chance of taking a seat at the table—for no other reason than that they were born male.

Unless we start doing something about it now.

On April 2, I launched the FACE IT Campaign with a group of friends to protest the fact that although women make up the majority of Facebook’s users, produce the majority of its content, and drive its revenues, Facebook’s board is made up entirely of white men. We are using Facebook, not to topple Arab governments, but to create meaningful change in corporate America—change that has not occurred for years, despite the articles, conferences, and commitments to do better. We are doing it because we want to be judged by our abilities—not our gender.

Often, in the past week, I’ve been told to stop making such a fuss. And, in those moments, I try to remind myself of that study group my freshman year—and what made a difference. It was not hard work. It was my friends, who decided to sit—uninvited—at that table. At first the men remained silent. Then one started to hiss. But my friend stayed put. And, finally, after a few days, the men stopped meeting at that table.

Instead they began to form new study groups—this time, with women.

***

What experiences are formative to your dreams?

Have you ever had someone try to tell you that something isn't true, when you know it is?

Will you take a moment and say atta girl to Alice for pursuing her dream?

April 03, 2012

Linda is a seasoned marketing professional with over 30 years in the financial services industry. She graduated from Universityof Pennsylvania's Wharton School with a BS in Economics and with an MBA from NYU. She moved to Boston in 1985 and calls it home, even with her New York state of mind. Linda is the founder of Amour Creations and has been featured in the Boston Globe and The Nibble. She has two grown children and lives in Brookline with her husband and cockapoo, Tovi.

What was I thinking the summer of 2010 taking on my 20 year old son’s challenge to market T'ART – a prepared baking mix?

I am a veteran Marketer at one of the largest mutual fund and financial services groups in the world, have a pedigree undergrad degree and an MBA. For fun, I peddle T’ART which I have been making for over 15 years, but launched a year ago. Every weekend, I schlep, whether matter rain or shine, going store to store, table and T’ARTs in hand to be looked at with wonder – why are you, an attractive, tall and slim middle aged woman doing food demos?

Sometimes I feel a little uncomfortable, truth be told, but only for a moment. This exchange has become part of my game. My juices start flowing and my sales pitch goes into high gear and then I hear “wow - you mean, you started this company? You‘re Linda?” “Like yeaaaah – thinking to myself” ….and then this magical transformation takes place. I’ve now successfully redirected the dialogue and am happily answering interesting questions. My audience is engaged, respecting me differently, even buying TART to support me, a local woman entrepreneur! I acknowledge this appreciated gesture vocally with a YESSS and thank you, while clinching my arms high up in the air! I did it!! I know T’ART is great, versatile, fail proof, easy, convenient - and all that, but it is this win of the sale that’s the energy booster propelling me to do more!

For years, friends told me I was onto something. But getting started was no easy feat. I work pretty crazy hours for my “real job” and knew zip about the food industry except that I love food, love to cook, bake and EAT, especially dinner (with a nice glass or two of wine!). Where would I find time and the patience to learn, explore, follow-up, and bring T’ART to market. I figured it out by putting all my other life interests on hold including my volunteer work, exercise, book club, girlfriend time, husband time and, entertaining, all the best of earning my empty nester stripes.

So, why bother making T’ART a reality?

I needed to satisfy my entrepreneurial desire and prove to myself and others, I could actually do it. So it became a series of gates - each time another set of decisions were made, an entry gate opened. Check mark, and a new gate to cross was in front of me. T’ART was initially more of an emotional vs financial commitment. I became obsessed with every detail and learned to function on only four hours sleep for months. I actually worked the hardest I ever did, and truly did my best professional work. I guess what my dad said was true: give a busy person something to do, and it gets done! It really was infectious, exciting, overwhelming, scary and paralyzing!

Who knew from residential and state kitchen licenses, nutritional analysis, the UPC code, FDA packaging; material cost, trademarks and liability insurance to name few were things I had to manage to. And the energy spent on naming and designing my logo. My husband could not fathom why I spent months on those customer facing details that help shape the brand. Dear husband, shall I remind you what I do for a living? Yes. These details are deliberate. Is it T’ART or T’ARTE with an “e”? Who cares? I do. The brand I was starting to create was a reflection of me and I needed to connect with and love it. And when people tell me they love my packaging, I somehow feel exonerated from obsessing.

It’s kind of funny that I love to bake given that mom has always loved “the bakery”. Aunt Sylvia, may she rest is peace and beaming with pride, was really the one who was instrumental in developing my interest in baking. Every Passover, she welcomed her nieces in the kitchen with open arms and lined us up to help make her famous banana, nut and sponge cakes. She taught us how to separate the eggs, whip to firm peaks, fold and best of all, lick the spatula and prep bowls. Yummm. That was the beginning, and this intrigue continued during my summer as a 15 year old au pair in Montmorency, outside of Paris, where I really learned the art of tartes, making and rolling the dough from scratch, adding fresh peaches and apricots (my all time favorite!). I can still smell and taste it. I would devour every amazing morsel in seconds. I came home smitten, and in no time, had my very own rolling pin and French tart pans with removable bottoms which I still have and use today for my very simple version of T’ART.

What’s next for T’ART? I am torn as I weigh the opportunities, the investment in time and money and the sacrifices. Each of these paths require different focuses and so, not till I am able commit to myself what T’ART should be when it grows up, can I fully execute on my brand, online sales, and overall business development strategy. That leaves me treading water a little, confused and hesitant as to how deep that foot should go into the water. The good news, I declared to my husband this week-end, that come Dec 31, 2012, I will know which path T’ART will take.

For now, I have what keeps me going - the “wow’s; the children’s thumbs up and smiles, the voice mails, the emails, and the T’ART makers who stop by at a tasting and proclaim how great T’ART is. How it cheers up her sick dad, how the dinner guests left no crumbs, or what a great hostess gift it makes wrapped along with a T’ART pan. Let’s not forget those FaceBook likes and comments that inspire me. And to all the wonderful local; small woman business owners who are willing to share and to the local markets who have faith in T’ART and keep telling me when I am demo'd out- to continue with the demo, demo and demo, demo and more demo.

In fact, this week-end, why not come see, smell and taste for yourself?

April 01, 2012

Giveaway: When you leave a comment (or tweet, Facebook, Linkedin, etc.) you'll be entered to win a copy of The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. The giveaway will close on Wednesday, April 4 at midnight (ET); I'll announce the winner on Thursday, April 5.

A few weeks ago, I received a copy of the The Power Habit, a book about the science of habit formation by Charles Duhigg, a staff writer at the New York Times. I have to concur with Dan Pink's blurb, "Once you read this book, you'll never look at yourself, your organization, or your world quite the same way."

Duhigg's four-step framework for reshaping habits is as follows:

Identify the routine -- At the core of every habit is a loop that consists of three parts: a cue, routine and reward (e.g. It's 3:30 pm, I eat a chocolate chip cookie, now I feel ______).

Experiment with rewards -- Rewards satisfy cravings; identify what you are really craving.

Isolate the cue -- Diagnose the triggers for the craving.

Have a plan -- You can't change the cue, but you can change the routine that will get you the reward that you seek.

A quick Q&A:

Q. How did your life change as a result of writing this book?

A. I lost about 30 lbs and I'm now training for the NYC marathon; my life has become more my own.

Q. How has your research impacted how you rear your children?

A. I started reporting on this topic when my first son Oliver, who will be four next month, was born. Understanding the importance of habits, and the 100 habits of self-discpline, we are more resolved to have him make his bed, straighten his room, take a bath, eat dinner together, read a story -- and eventually to do his homework, each day.

Q. How do you apply what you learned to writing?

A. Because I'm a journalist I'm used to writing. But I'll still think, ugh, I've got 30 pages to read and edit. I also know that it's just a matter of starting. My research reminds me that if I can habituate myself to edit just one sentence, I'll get so drawn into the text, I'll be off.

Q. Any major idea you'd like to convey?

A. There's something magical about the neurology of habits. Any habit can change. At any point in your life. Habits are completely malleable. Once we understand the habit loop of cue, routine and reward, we can begin to change behavior.

***

My takeaways:

1) "There's something magical about the neurology of habits." When I'm tired I'll think, I'm just going to eat this treat, it doesn't matter. But it does. Everytime I do something the same or differently, I'm reinforcing or reworking the loop. And that's encouraging. For example, two evenings this week I stopped eating at 9pm, rather than grazing until midnight, because I was reminded that one small win can make a difference.

2) "Belief is the ingredient that makes a reworked habit loop into a permanent behavior; belief is easier when it occurs within a community." Duhigg relates that as a head football coach, Tony Dungy's teams had done a superb job of changing their habits, but reverted to old ones in championship games. It was only after the tragic death of Dungy's son did the team have the 'belief' they needed to win. In 2007, the Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl.

As we rework the habit loop of daring and dreaming, it will be easier when we do this as a community: we dream best when we dream together.

***

One last idea:

If you are a Gladwell Tipping Point fan, you will likely find this interesting. Dissecting the Civil Rights movement from the perspective of habits, Duhigg concludes "it wasn't inevitable that Parks' rebellion would result in anything other than her arrest. Bu then habits intervened, and something amazing occured." Summarizing:

1) A movement starts because of social habits of friendship and the strong ties between close acquaintances -- Because Rosa Parks was deeply respected and embedded within her community, when she was arrested it triggered a series of social habits -- the habits of friendship -- that ignited an initial protest.

2) It grows because of the habits of a community, and the weak ties that hold neighborhoods and clans together. -- The Montgomery bus boycott became a society-wide action because the sense of obligation that held the black community together was activated when Parks' friends started spreading the word. People who hardly knew Parks decided to participate because of social peer pressure.

3) It endures because a movement's leaders give participants new habits that create a fresh sense of identity and ownership. Duhigg writes, "these social habits weren't strong enough on their own to extend a one-day boycott into a yearlong movement...but these fears evaporated when the protesters stood their ground freed from fear, and were now sustained by new habits that had changed their sense of self."

***

What habits would you like to change?

Does this strengthen your resolve to require your children to create good habits? I kept thinking.. "Train up your child in the way she should go."

How have you seen social habits effect change?

***

Giveaway: When you leave a comment (or tweet, Facebook, Linkedin, etc.) you'll be entered to win a copy of The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. The giveaway will close on Wednesday, April 4 at midnight (ET); I'll announce the winner on April 5. Here are some sample tweets:

It was a smashing success. The event sold out and the wait list filled. We were even told it was the “best networking event I’ve been to in Boston.”

So now we’re planning Pivot 2.0 for May 8, 2012.

The event will again be held at Boldfacers Studio, 15 Channel Center Street, Suite 201 in Boston from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. There is ample on-site parking. Complimentary refreshments will be served.

Purchase your tickets as soon as possible – our event sold out last year! Ticket price of $20 includes a copy of my book Dare, Dream, Do and a donation to the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign, which provides life-saving vaccinations to children in need. And if you'd like to sponsor the event, let me know.

March 28, 2012

Susy Yamada is a home-schooling mother of 5 children, who is always looking for new ways to teach and learn. She and her husband have principally raised their family in New York City, in a fluid, ever-changing, too small apartment, where they still live with their 3 youngest.

***

Motivated by several significant events in my extended family and my misunderstanding of simple employment benefits last year, I decided it was time to learn more about my family’s finances.

Getting my family’s financial life in order has involved laughter, tears and a healthy dose of embarrassment. But it has been worth it. Prior to this journey, I got the basics done: paying bills, managing monthly cash flow, balancing our accounts. However, I had no idea whether these decisions were benefiting our family in the short or long term. It turns out both me and my husband were both living in the dark.

Studies reveal that most of our ideas about money are rooted in the home we were raised in. I had a belief that as the “keeper of the hearth”, and nurturer of my beautiful children, I was exempt from being responsible for or showing interest in money. Moreover, the “money is evil” paradigm stopped me from learning about and practicing informed money management.

These feelings had a profound effect on the relationships in our family. We rarely discussed money because certain values had been established and followed early on (e.g., no credit card debt). Despite this basic foundation, many of our financial practices were not based in any purposeful direction or goal. While the consequences for this lack of direction have not affected our highest values, we missed out on opportunities to create greater cohesion as a family by discussing our “direction” and “intention.”

My learning began by being open to counsel. Misty Vieira, a small business bookkeeper, who I hired to help me in this process, encouraged me to track my spending for three months. My children termed this process, “ruining their Christmas.” Misty walked me through setting up an online accounting program that tracked all our accounts and spending categories. Every morning I updated the accounts and double checked that every transaction was categorized correctly. Misty’s guidance and direction was essential in helping me understand the language of money such as “in the black,” “line of credit” and differences in meaning of the word “balance.”

Another key individual, Lee Ann Fatalo, a financial advisor, helped me make a financial plan and actually follow it. While I found some of her questions about my family’s expenses invasive, I see now that her need to have this information was critical to helping me move forward with my goals. She was the person who knew the path ahead, and could guide me down it.

Labeling expenses led to the most trauma. I felt threatened when my advisers categorized expenses with words that made the items sound less lofty. Those conversations made me want to quit. My emotional response was so visceral I knew I needed to look deeper. It turns out I would categorize everything I wanted as “educational,” which mean that the spending was justified because the purchase was for the good of the children. In some ways, I felt that my identity was being attacked. While I have made some strides in understanding my emotions around money it is clear to me that there is more to know about myself. The labeling process revealed important information that helped me modify spending in ways that contributed to our family’s long term goals:

We made 52 Amazon orders that year, which almost always included multiple items. I started putting my library card in the front pocket of my wallet to remind me that I borrow books first, then consider adding them to my collection.

The arts and supplies spending seemed high, so we committed to using the resources we already had in the closet. The resulting projects have been truly creative and more reflective of the small, sweet hands that made them.

Beyond belief was the fact that we had been paying for 2 Netflix accounts for more than a year. Of course, I quickly consolidated to one!

I discovered many hidden recurring costs that we had signed up for, which at the time, seemed needed. It took several days to figure out how to cancel these recurring payments, but well worth the hundreds of dollars of savings each month.

Our Quicken reports showed us how much we were simply giving away. While much of our charitable donating matched our values, we were prey to random requests and were often too generous for our financial situation.

Perhaps the most important outcome of this process has been that my husband and I have worked together. Before this experience, I perceived my husband as rounding down costs of his projects and rounding up mine. Now, we have effective conversations because we look at the truth of Quicken reports. We no longer guess or assume we have adequate funds. We know. This knowledge has helped not only diffuse strong emotions, but also help us gauge our progress towards meeting our long term goals.

The journey has been embarrassing at times, but fun because I am on the frontier of what was unknown. I surprised myself that I can do this -- and it has been exciting.

Do you shy away or embrace managing your finances?

What are your assumptions about money? Publicly hate, secretly love?

How can knowing more about your money help you put a down payment on your dream?

In the interim, I'd become enamored with Pinterest, thanks to Emily Snyder's fantastic cubicle decor. But still nothing. Until I began to rely on and collaborate with people like Becky Robinson. As she and I were brainstorming one morning, the idea came.

I love quotes. I continually retweet and repin them. They inspire me. In Dare, Dream, Do, one of my favorite chapters includes quotes that encapsulate my beliefs, a chapter which never would have been written w/o contributor/editor Melissa Stanton's urging. Why not compile my favorite quotes related to dreaming, ask Aarean Jergensen to graphically render them, and upload them to Pinterest?

Becky then said, why not also create an ebook, one with quality images that can be downloaded, printed, and framed so that we have visual reminders of daring and dreaming?

Now that the book is complete, I'm squealing with delight and I want my friends to be the first to have it. Leave a comment below, and I'll e-mail you a copy.

All of this wouldn't be happening without your well-timed words of encouragement, your tremendously rich commentary, and the stories of your dreams; you are like strawberries, sunshine and sweetness, and I am deeply grateful.

If you find yourself wanting to help share this message, something that would be extra helpful is to use this link and send it to your friends encouraging them to Dare, Dream, Do via Facebook. Your friends will be eligible to win one of several prizes, including an autographed copy of the book, as well as participating in my very first Dare, Dream, Do (U)niversity correspondence course, during which a handful of us will work through (via phone and e-mail) my 3-part model for achieving your dreams.

Said Ralph Waldo Emerson, "“Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only true gift is a portion of thyself.”

Thank you for everything.

***

P.S.

Didn't Aarean Jersgensen do a fantastic job on the quotes?

What is your favorite quote on the Pinterest page?

Any "dream" quotes you'd like to see graphically rendered?

***

P.P.S. Here's one more blurb.

Whitney Johnson has written a book that will inspire you to write your own story and invent your own dreams and in Dare-Dream-Do, Whitney provides a roadmap to help give your dreams life. As a big believer in the power of dreaming, I recommend this book to help you take your dreams from possibility to a reality you never knew existed. -- Maxine Clark, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Bear, Build-A-Bear Workshop

March 23, 2012

Spring is almost here, and soon after, the launch of your first book, Dare, Dream, Do.

In our garden, we’re enjoying a patch of crocuses, glorious in purple and white. Our daffodils and tulips will soon bloom, while the other perennial flowers each unfurl in turn. Just as the hard work of planting and tending perennials happens long before spring, you did the most important work to prepare for your book launch before we met. In fact, you started preparing for this launch the day you typed your first tentative words into a blog post, the day you opened a Twitter account, the first time you posted on Facebook, and when you completed your LinkedIn profile and began making connections.

Since you decided to engage online, you have been building a valuable presence and brand. You’ve been planting seeds, one by one, hiding away bulbs of promise by carefully cultivating strong relationships, connecting others, and sharing valuable content.

The past few months, we’ve worked together to extend your influence for the purpose of the book launch:

We set up a unique social media presence for Dare, Dream, Do, adding a Twitter account and Facebook page. Both platforms have given us a place to regularly share content and build excitement for the launch. Facebook is a perfect place to share about your book and extend your influence because the people in your target demographic (women ages 30-60) enjoy and use Facebook. (A side note – your page is reaching the right people. More than ¼ of the likes have come from women aged 35-44; more than ¾ of the likes are from women. We’re clearly sharing content that resonates with our core audience.)

We’ve gathered a wealth of content from your book to share on the Dare, Dream, Do accounts. We started with quotes, concepts, and ideas from the book and expanded to include other quotes about dreams and dreaming. This content has fueled your social media accounts, and inspired our idea to create dream quote images to share on Pinterest and compile into an ebook. It’s been so exciting and fun to see people share and repin the images. Even before your book is released, we are inviting people to think about, talk about, and pursue their dreams.

As we move into the final weeks before your launch, I know it feels overwhelming to you. Because of that, I want to ask you to do remember a few important ideas:

Your online friends, followers, and fans will count it a privilege to help with your launch. I’ve noticed that some authors (including you…) are reluctant to ask for help. Yet in my work launching a book with Kevin Eikenberry, and helping my friends Jesse Lyn Stoner and Chris Edmonds launch their books, I’ve discovered, again and again, that people are honored when you involve them in your launch. Pitching in with a book launch is exciting! People enjoy sharing good content and being a part of something big and important.

Automation can be a helpful tool. Used strategically and carefully, automation can free you up to do important connecting and engaging with others. In our work together, I know you’ve been slightly uncomfortable using Mail Chimp to contact your friends and contributing authors. While I agree with the importance of staying true to who you are, the reality is that the time demands of your book launch require that you make friends with automation. The key is to find other ways to personally connect with people and to automate routine communication and tasks.

There is power in an email list. In upcoming weeks, we’re going to initiate two exciting ways to add people to your email list. First, we’re using technology through Push 44 to help people share the book launch with their friends. As people participate in our Push 44 promotion, we’ll gain email addresses and Facebook fans to extend our online platform for the book. Next, we’ll offer a free chapter of the book, another way to help share the message of the book and gather email addresses, allowing us to communicate with people and share the excitement of the launch.

And…

You can’t do it all. Whitney, while you are busy now, as the launch approaches, you will become even busier. You won’t be able to say yes to every opportunity and you don’t want to, anyway. You will need to make strategic choices about what you choose to pursue. And, you’ll need to get better at delegating tasks to others.

But…

Keep sharing content. It might be tempting, during the last push toward the launch and the busy days afterward, to neglect your blog and Twitter account. Don’t! Follow your friend Annie's advice to gather extra blog posts in advance. Use content from book that didn’t make the cut, and share new guest posts. Also, share about your experiences throughout the launch… we all want to read them!

Whitney, have I told you lately that I am honored and privileged to be a part of your launch? (I am). I am so excited to see your book succeed. I am (beyond confident that it will.

Your online network is like a beautiful garden waiting to burst into bloom. Your kindness, encouragement, and support of others have been fertilizer and spring rains. Soon, what you have given will return and rain down on you. You’ll be surrounded by flowers: stunning, bright, vibrant, and fragrant.

Warmly,

Becky

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Becky Robinson is the owner of Weaving Influence, a social media consulting and implementation business. She is thrilled to support authors and thought leaders, including Kevin Eikenberry, Jason Womack,Wendy Appel and me, as they seek to grow their influence online. She is also a mom to three daughters. Follow her on twitter at @beckyrbnsn or visit her blog at weavinginfluence.com.

About this blog

When I took a sabbatical from Wall Street to pursue a different dream and help others live theirs, I learned that women in the U.S. may be placated, even pampered, but because we aren't dreaming, we are also desperate and depressed. Drawing on a variety of sources, ranging from academic studies to pop culture, dare to dream encourages us to dream. And then to act on our dreams.